Buddha said of himself and his monks: “When we walk, we know we are walking.” This is a beautiful practice and one of the simplest and most immediately rewarding and instructive. It is both grounding and freeing. The benefits suit our need for immediate gratification, because they begin to appear with the first step. And [...]
…continued from Becoming Aware 1:6 – Your Quiet Voice Just Sitting While much of what we do to be in tune with our own true voice involves action, the most important activity appears on the surface to be one of nonaction. Yet it is the key that unlocks our hearts and minds and awakens our [...]
There is a grave misconception that serenity can only be had while meditating and that meditation can only be done in a quiet room with no distractions. Many people think that meditation is a break from life, a mind vacation, a time-out from the usual, and that if we do this, if we take these [...]
…continued from Becoming Aware 1:5 – Your Quiet Voice First Things First Often the hardest thing about starting anything new, challenging, or creative, like embarking on this Quiet Corner journey, is simply that—starting. Our mind, our doubts, our fears, the loud voices within us, our judge and critic, keep us from even trying. In my [...]
No matter how quickly we want things to change or how much we want things, people, or situations to be different than they are or how much we want, period, the wisest choice is usually to do nothing. This is the ultimate being-still practice. Doing nothing seems like just that: nothing. Perhaps on the surface [...]
…continued from Becoming Aware 1:4 - Clean Sweep Your Mind Your Quiet Voice Once you start clearing your mind of your nagging mind questions and storing them away, you will begin to be ready to identify your quiet voice. It may have been so quiet over the years that it has become lost. But it [...]
Waiting—we all do it. We wait for the movie to start, the train to come, the weekend, our vacation. We can’t wait until we meet the “right” partner, we’re in the perfect job, or we have more money. What we’re really doing in all these situations is waiting for our life to happen. We’re waiting [...]
…continued from Becoming Aware 1:3 - Mind Noise Situating Yourself: Clean Sweep Your Mind As you become aware of your busy mind, one exercise might help before you look closer and deal with what’s actually there. You can do this exercise to give yourself a break from the din and to create some space so [...]
Although we may find ourselves sitting down through much of the day, how many of us ever make a conscious decision just to sit? Usually, when we’re sitting, we are also driving or eating or working or watching a movie or relaxing. Sitting is usually about something other than just sitting. And if we’ve ever [...]
Situating Yourself: Mind Noise ...continued from Becoming Aware 1:2 - Busy Mind Once you start to become aware and take note of what your mind is doing, create a Quiet Corner bank (some call it a God box—if that works better for you) in which to store all your questions, self-judgments, and self-criticisms. Perhaps you [...]
